Scaling CAD File During PDF Conversion

DWG and DXF files don’t define physical dimensions with absolute ruler measurements. Instead they use units defined by the user. This is the scaling factor.

When you generate a PDF file from a CAD program, it is transformed to paper/print dimensions. Although the original CAD units are lost in this step, the ‘xy’ relationship remains. Because pdf2cad preserves the drawing scale, the CAD units can be calculated.

Calculating Scale Factor

The scaling factor is applied during the conversion to restore the CAD drawing to its original dimensions. By default, pdf2cad uses 1 mm in the PDF = 1 unit in the CAD file. You can change this under the DWG/DXF Options tab. You can also scale the drawing after import into your CAD application.

Adjusting Coordinate Precision

Tip: Sometimes pdf2cad delivers better precision and more accurate coordinates if you change one of the values in your pdf2cad.ini file. Please try setting the ctm_scale to 10.0 instead of 1.0 (default) in the pdf2cad.ini file. If this does not help, please send us the file to diagnose.